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Berwick resident Susan Lynn fended off competition from another bidder at Thursday’s Luzerne County back-tax auction to acquire a house on 50 acres for $34,000.

It was the highest bid in the first-stage “upset” auction.

These sales are less popular because buyers must accept responsibility for outstanding mortgages and other liens attached to their purchases in addition to covering minimum bids set at the amount of back taxes owed.

It’s unclear if the property Lynn purchased has outstanding liens. She declined comment on the transaction.

Owned by Arthur Schmidt for decades, the property on Moores Hill Road in Salem Township is assessed at $274,300. Bids started at $22,714.

Of the 613 properties up for grabs, 55, or 9 percent, sold, according to Northeast Revenue Service LLC, the county’s tax claim operator.

The $318,323 collected will be forwarded to the county and other taxing bodies and cover auction costs.

Among the purchases Thursday:

• Carl Boyd, Kingston, paid $8,470 for a home at 88 W. Vaughn St., Kingston, that is assessed at $87,100.

• Michael Shipula, representing Eagle Rock Resort Co. LLC, purchased 19 properties in Black Creek and Hazle townships.

• Michael Stachowiak, Nanticoke, paid $11,687 for 108 forested acres in the Honey Pot section of Nanticoke. The property, which had been owned by Nan View Inc., is assessed at $126,800.

Another 31 properties were postponed to a special Oct. 29 auction because the owners convinced a county judge to grant them more time.

Several property owners filed for bankruptcy so their holdings would not be auctioned.

The 558 properties that did not sell Thursday will advance to an August 2016 free-and-clear auction, in which mortgages and other liens are forgiven, unless the owners pay all taxes owed before then.

The property with the highest starting bid Thursday — $232,891 — is a 56,600-square-foot former manufacturing building at 12 Oregon St., Wilkes-Barre, owned by several members of the Rockman family. The back taxes racked up because the property had been pulled from tax auctions for years due to bankruptcies.

Northeast Revenue head John Rodgers, who served as auctioneer for more than two hours without a break, scanned the crowd of bidders at the courthouse hopefully when the listing came up but had no takers.

“You could buy all of Wilkes-Barre for that,” one regular bidder shouted out.

Bidders also passed on:

• The shuttered Academy Super Market building, 121 Academy St., Wilkes-Barre, which is owned by BSE Properties LLC and had a starting bid of $20,034.

• Eight properties in Duryea owned by Balchune & Balchune Partners, William Balchune and others. The properties include a stretch of retail storefront buildings with apartments above in the 400 block of Main Street that the owner has been trying to sell as a complete block of buildings. The other residential structures are in the 200 block of Main Street and on Watt, Pettebone and Stephenson streets.

• The Italian Educational Circle social/fraternal hall at 3 McTague St., Pittston Township, which was listed for $7,146 in taxes owed. An apartment building attached to and owned by the Kosciusko Polish American Citizens’ Club on Winters Avenue in West Hazleton also did not sell, with bids starting at $19,800.

A list of available parcels and information on bidding in the Oct. 29 sale, which also includes a free-and-clear auction, will be posted at www.luzernecountytaxclaim.com.

Rodgers
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Rodgers-John.jpg.optimal.jpgRodgers

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

[email protected]

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.